Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Service Model is a love child of a very long parable and a philosophy treatise, but written as a riff on quite a few classical authors (the chapter headings give a clue — KR15-T (Christie), K4FK-R (Kafka), 4W-L (Orwell), 80RH-5 (Borges), and D4NT-A (Dante). It’s a story of a robot valet UnCharles (he used to be a “Charles”, but the name had to be left with the house as the robot was dismissed from service) who inexplicably murders his master and goes on a purpose-searching mission through a dystopian wasteland of the future society collapse while adamantly maintaining his lack of self-awareness to an unexpected companion met along the way, the delightfully rebellious The Wonk.
Tchaikovsky engages in a lot of pointed social commentary with a side of dry humor and considerations on the meaning of free will and justice and purpose in life, combining the earnestly naive outlook of our protagonist with the bleak darkness of the surrounding world, producing a comedic effect that’s still very much in a parable style but thankfully very much NOT a recently popular cozy feel.
Tchaikovsky often writes doorstoppers, and it’s one of them — but to be honest the book would have benefited from being half of its length. Maybe I’m just partial to Tchaikovsky’s novellas because he has them down to an art form, but cutting out a section or two from this one would have streamlined the flow. There was a certain repetitiveness in those sections that after the snappiness of the first part made it drag a bit. (On the other hand, however, the slowness added to the allegorical parable feel of the story).
But what saved it for me was the audio narration by the author himself; Tchaikovsky is a delightfully good narrator and it’s always special for me to hear the book in the author’s voice.
The particular mix of influences here — KR15-T, K4FK-R, 4W-L, 80RH-5 and D4NT-A, with Biblical allegories and philosophical dialogues and hero’s journey — is interesting, and I appreciate that Tchaikovsky is willing to take an experimental risk with it here instead of sticking with the tried and true. The side effect of this stylistic choice is the worldbuilding which is not air-tight but is rather present to make a point, and the point is the journey rather than destination. If you’re not expecting it, however, it may take you aback a bit. But this is a story not for the sake of the plot but for the sake of the message, and in Tchaikovsky’s hands it’s somehow not annoying and a strength rather than the expected weakness.
I’ve seen some comparisons of this book to Murderbot, but I just don’t see it. However, if you’ve read Suzanne Palmer’s Bot 9 stories, you are bound to see some rather lovely similarities.
3.5 stars plus an extra half-star for Tchaikovsky’s narration.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio/Tor Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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